Journal conflates stories, does justice to neither

Two stories played out when the school board met Friday morning for the purpose of discussing Supt Winston Brooks improvement plan and ended up debating teacher transfer language.  The stories; Brooks' improvement plan and teacher transfers are unrelated.

One could argue that Brooks' tone deafness to teacher interests should be addressed in his improvement plan, but other than that; two different stories entirely.

On the subject of Brooks' improvement plan; the Journal mentions only as an aside, that Brooks entire evaluation process is taking place in secret from interest holders.  One would think a bonafide newspaper would pause at least for a moment, on that very disturbing note.  No such luck.

The Journal reports, link; the improvement plan discussion did not take place because two of the seven board members didn't show up.  The Journal went on to identify the board member who didn't show up at all, but did not identify the member who showed so late, the discussion had to be postponed anyway.  Hmm?

Kent Walz routinely
covers Esquivel's ass.

The lack of candor, forthrightness and honesty might have been accidental, or it might be because the tardy member is a good friend of the Journal Managing Editor Kent Walz and especially immune to Journal scrutiny over issues like his in-attendance, tardiness, incompetence and corruption.

Because Brooks' improvement plan couldn't be discussed, the board moved on to discussion of the negotiated agreement between teachers and the district.

Negotiations are currently in impasse because the district wants to move closer to allowing administrators to transfer teachers at will, and teachers have no reason to believe that kind of power won't be abused.

The fear that there are principals who abuse power broached briefly during the discussion.

School Board member Marty Esquivel, who had finally showed up, assured teachers that principals would not transfer teachers arbitrarily.  In so saying, he manifests his abject ignorance of the state of the APS and human nature itself,  or a deliberate effort to mislead interest holders.

In contrast, the Journal reports, Board member Kathy Korte said she has changed her mind on the transfer issue and no longer wants to give the administration more power to move teachers.

Because, she said, she fearsd principals and administrators could abuse the power.

Gee, ya think?

A principal who will abuse one power, will abuse another, and another.  It's human nature.  It's the concern expressed by Lord Acton who wrote;

“All power tends to corrupt;
absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Transfers at the drop of a hat are one tool used to retaliate against teachers who principals dislike.  That and the fundamental issue of the "culture of the fear of retaliation in the APS" identified by independent auditors, like so many important APS issues, remains unexplored by the Journal.

It will likely go unexplored for at least as long as the cozy relationships between the leadership of the APS and the establishment's media continues to trump their obligations to inform the democracy; candidly, forthrightly and honestly.




photos Mark Bralley